
PAS rallies against Anwar amid reform stalemate
Roslan referred to Prof Wong Chin Huat's article in Sinar Harian in which he urges support for Anwar.
PAS is seizing on the judicial crisis fiasco to rally its supporters and the wider public ahead of the planned mass protest on July 26 at Dataran Merdeka. The party hopes that a large turnout will drive home their message: that Anwar's leadership is losing public support.
On the other hand, backing the PAS move, Roslan said Anwar has failed to fulfil election promises and his reform agenda was merely to gain power, as issues like corruption, cronyism, and rising living costs remain unresolved.
Roslan stated that people have lost faith in Anwar and pledged support for the upcoming protest, declaring it the true voice of the people demanding leadership change.
He made these remarks in response to Prof Wong Chin Huat's warning that if Anwar fails to implement governance reforms, such as ensuring judicial independence, he risks losing public support to Perikatan Nasional, which is portraying itself as a cleaner and more credible alternative.
In this article, Prof Wong Chin Huat uses an old Cold War joke to illustrate that truths are often hidden as state secrets.
He discusses the recent controversy over leaked minutes from the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) meeting, which allegedly showed a judge with misconduct issues still being proposed as Chief Judge of Malaya.
Prof Wong argued that if investigations are for spreading false information, it would prove the judiciary is clean. But if they focus on leaking state secrets, it implies the allegation is true.
He stressed that Anwar and his government should use this crisis to strengthen judicial independence rather than punish whistleblowers.
Wong suggested tightening the JAC Act so judge appointments are truly determined by the JAC, not by the PM. He frames the PM's role as similar to a 'postman' conveying recommendations to the King, which would not diminish his dignity but instead uphold judicial freedom under Anwar's Madani government.
He further highlighted that Anwar's daughter, Nurul Izzah's presence at the Bar Council's 'March for Justice' signals that Anwar might be ready to reinforce judicial integrity.
Prof Wong ends by urging Anwar's loyalists to listen to reform voices within his coalition, like Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli, instead of attacking them, concluding:
'If you love Anwar, then help him raise the flag of reform high and proud. Reform does not necessarily need Anwar, but Anwar certainly needs reform.' — July 19, 2025

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Malaysia Sun
2 hours ago
- Malaysia Sun
Lavrov to the EU: Learn respect or be left behind
On the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, theres little to celebrate for those who wanted a harmonious coexistence Like him, hate him, Otto von Bismarck - Prussian aristocrat, arch conservative, user of German nationalism, maker of wars, and then keeper of the peace - was no dummy. And his ego was Reich-sized. Yet even Bismarck had a grain of humility left. Smart politics, he once remarked, consists of listening for "God's step" as He walks through "world history," and then to grab the hem of His mantle. In other words, stay attuned to the needs and especially the opportunities of the moment. Tragically, Bismarck's single greatest skill was to seize -and, if need be, help along- opportunities for war. But sometimes peace, too, gets its chance. Fifty years ago, all European countries - minus only Albania, initially - plus the US and Canada, signed theHelsinki Final Act (or Helsinki Accords). A complex document addressing four areas (called 'baskets') of international relations and follow-up implementation, the Helsinki Final Act was a breakthrough for Detente in Europe. Detente was a global attempt, driven by Brezhnev and Gromyko's Moscow and Nixon and Kissinger's Washington to, if not wind down, then at least manage the Cold War better. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was not the only reason for this policy of restraint and reason. Comingextremely close to all-out nuclear warDr.-Strangelove-style helped concentrate minds. Add the US fiasco in Vietnam, and by the late 1960s, the desire to de-escalate was strong enough even in Washington to quickly override the Soviet suppression of the 1968 Prague Spring. In the first half of the 1970s, a flurry of high-level international diplomacy and treaties marked the peak of Detente. By 1975, the Helsinki Accords were the peak of that peak. Stemming from Soviet and Warsaw Pact initiatives and resonating with a Western Europe - and even post-Harmel ReportNATO (those were the days!) - that genuinely wanted to combine due diligence in defense policy with real diplomacy and give-and-take negotiations, the Helsinki Accords also fed on the preceding French, that is, De Gaulle's, "politique à l'Est," as well as Willy Brandt of Germany's "Ostpolitik." The latter is much maligned now in a Germany where disgracefully incompetent elites have gone wild with Russophobia and a new militarism. In reality, both De Gaulle and Brandt - as well as Brandt's key foreign policy adviser, Egon Bahr, made historic contributions to mitigating the worst risks of the Cold War and, in Germany's case, also to preparing the ground for national re-unification. Yet, after 1975, things started to go downhill, and they've never really stopped. That is one of the key points recently made in along article by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Since Western mainstream media excel at not reporting what Russian politicians are trying to tell us, it is likely that few will notice outside of Russia. That's a shame because Lavrov has more than one message we should pay attention to. Under the understated title "Half a Century of the Helsinki Act: Expectations, Realities, and Perspectives," Lavrov delivers a harsh and - even if you disagree with some of the details - fundamentally valid and just criticism of the disappointing failure following the promising beginnings at Helsinki. That failure has a name - the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Incidentally, the OSCE is the successor of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), which actually produced the Helsinki Accords between 1972 and 1975. Before the leaders of the time, both great and small, could meet in Helsinki to sign them, at what Cold War historian Jussi Hanhimäki called a "largely ceremonial affair," there had been years of painstaking, meticulous negotiations. There's a lesson here for the impatient Trumps and Zelenskys of today: serious results take serious preparation, not a day or two of grandstanding. What happened to the OSCE next is not complicated: with 57 member states, making it the largest security organization in the world today, it has massively under performed. At least if we measure it by its aims, as originally set out at Helsinki in the heyday of Detente. The OSCE could have been an indispensable international forum, bridging the front lines of geopolitics and ideologies (or, as we now say, "values"). After the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s, it could even have become the core of new security architecture, which included everyone from Lisbon to Vladivostok. But for that to happen, it would have had to stick to the Helsinki Accord's core principles and rules: strict respect for sovereignty, equality, and non-interference, all maintained by a heavy emphasis on consensus. Yet, instead, the OSCE turned, first, into a Cold War and, then, a post-Cold War tool of Western influence, bias, and - behind the facade of multilateralism - hardball realpolitik. Like the EU, the OSCE should have been fundamentally different from, and even antagonistic towards NATO. But like the EU, it ended up becoming a mere junior partner in America's imperial vassal system. Much of Lavrov's article is dedicated to detailing this failure in various countries, regions, issues, and conflicts, including Chechnya, Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine, to name just a few. That's important because it serves as a corrective to silly and complacentWestern mainstream tales, which put the blame for Helsinki's and the OSCE's failure on - drum roll - Russia and Russia alone. Not to speak of the demented attempts by Ukraine's delusional, corrupt, and increasingly isolated Vladimir Zelensky to use the Helsinki anniversary to once again call for "regime change" in Russia. Yet what is even more important is Lavrov's candid message about the future, as Russia sees it. First, it is polycentric or multipolar and, in this part of the world, Eurasian and emphatically not transatlantic. In that respect, it is almost as if we are back in the mid-1950s. Back then, long before the Helsinki Act became reality, Moscow - then the capital of the Soviet Union - suggested building comprehensive security architecture. The West refused because Moscow was not willing to include the US. By the 1970s, the Soviet leadership had changed its position, affirming that it was possible to include the US, which, in turn, made Helsinki possible. So much for fairy tales of Russian "intransigence." That inclusion was an irony of history, as Washington initially showed only distrust and disdain. As Hanhimäki has shown, Henry Kissinger considered Europe a sideshow, though not the Soviet Union: the US has always respected its opponents much more than its vassals. He suspected that if Moscow and Western Europe got to cozy it could end up threatening Washington's control over the latter. He once told his team with more than a tinge of nasty racism that the Helsinki agreements might as well be written in Swahili. Now, Moscow is back to standing firm against trans-atlanticism. Lavrov writes, "Euro-atlantic" conceptions of security and cooperation have "discredited themselves and are exhausted." Europe, he warns, can have a place in future Eurasian systems, but it "definitely" won't be allowed to "call the tune." If its countries wish to be part of the "process, they will have to learn good manners, renounce [their habit of] diktat and colonial instincts, get used to equal rights, [and] working in a team." You may think that this is very far from the Europe we are seeing now: one that is submissive to the US to the point of self-destruction (as theTurnberry Trade and Tariff Fiasco has just revealed again), blinded by hubris in its "garden-in-the-jungle," and fanatically invested in not even talking to Russia and confronting China. And yet, none of the above can last forever. Indeed, given how self-damaging these policies are, it may not last much longer. The news from Moscow is that, though Russia has not closed the door on Europe entirely, if or when the Europeans recover their sanity, they will find that Russia won't allow them to return to having it both ways: being America's vassals and enjoying a decent relationship with Russia at the same time. (


Free Malaysia Today
3 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
PAS leaders may have broken laws with cow, bull analogy, says minister
Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said the PAS leaders may have breached several provisions in the Penal Code with their remarks. PETALING JAYA : Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said PAS leaders may have broken several laws by comparing women leaders to animals and citing the Quran in defending the analogy. In a post on X, Azalina said the PAS leaders may have breached several provisions, namely Sections 509, 504 and 298A of the Penal Code. The three sections deal with insulting the modesty of a person, intentional insult to provoke a breach of the peace, and actions that cause disharmony, respectively. She did not name the leaders, but uploaded two articles which identified Maran PAS Youth information chief Salman Al Farisi and party deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man. 'To whom it may concern: if you are still comparing women leaders to animals in 2025, congrats! 'Do better, or lawyer up,' she said, in an apparent sarcastic jab at Salman and Tuan Ibrahim, who had defended the youth leader. Azalina also said those who incorporated religion into their argument could be committing an offence under Section 507B of the Penal Code that deals with insulting words. On Monday, Malaysiakini reported Salman as comparing men to bulls, and women to cows when emphasising the importance of men in leadership roles, based on his experience in livestock farming. Salman had claimed that a cow would usually lead the herd, while bulls serve to protect the herd. He said society should, therefore, avoid elevating women to leadership positions, and that men should assume leadership roles in accordance with Quranic teachings. Earlier today, Tuan Ibrahim defended Salman, saying such analogies were used in literary works and not meant to degrade women. 'In Islamic literature in the past, there are works such as 'Kalilah wa Dimnah', which are filled with analogies and stories about animals, used to convey teachings and moral values,' he was quoted as saying. He said he saw nothing sexist about Salman's remark.

Barnama
3 hours ago
- Barnama
ASEAN Day: Malaysians Share Aspirations For Peaceful, Prosperous Southeast Asia
By Suraidah Roslan & Ahmad Idzwan Arzmi KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- As the region commemorates ASEAN Day on August 8, Malaysians voiced their hopes for a better future through the ambitious ASEAN Community Vision (ACV) 2045, a roadmap for a united, peaceful and prosperous region over the next two decades. A civil servant, Ameelia Roslan, 29, said ASEAN symbolises regional unity and should continue to promote cooperation, inclusivity and sustainable growth. bootstrap slideshow 'To me, ASEAN represents the spirit of regional togetherness. It's about working together, supporting one another, and building a better future for Southeast Asia, especially in ensuring sustainable development that leaves no one behind,' she told Bernama in conjunction with ASEAN Day. Former assistant manager at private university, Siti Zatil Iman Mohd Maarof, 39, said that if she had the chance to deliver a message to ASEAN leaders, she would urge ASEAN member state to strengthen their cooperation without relying on others, especially Western countries. 'ASEAN is much richer and stronger than we realise. If the region can fully utilise its resources, it is not impossible for ASEAN to emerge as the world's fourth-largest economy by 2030,' For private college student Nurhikmah Harshah Zulkifli, 20, ASEAN leaders must strengthen cooperation in various aspects to ensure that less developed countries benefit from the progress of other member states. She hopes that through the successful implementation of ASEAN Vision 2045, the region will become more harmonious, resilient and stable, one that capable of withstanding future challenges while promoting peace, unity, and sustainable development among its member states. Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) student Muhammad Ridzuan Zakaria, 24, believes Malaysia plays a significant role in promoting regional peace and is seen as a respected example, particularly among Islamic countries.